Letters to the editor: 7/12

Same-sex unions defy Judeo-Christian tradition

Supreme Court rulings on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 are described as a victory for same-sex marriage.

For the majority of the world who still believe in traditional marriage, these rulings change nothing. Let's take a step back from the political and emotional fervor surrounding this issue and get back to basics on marriage.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, marriage is between one man and one woman. In the Bible, God created male and female "in his own image." In marriage, man and woman belong together as a picture of who God is.

When people deny this, it brings confusion. This is especially true sexually. Casual sex wounds the soul and pains the conscience.

Today the differences between man and woman are blurred and distorted. We celebrate women's equality, but women are still abused, exploited and treated as sex objects.

Marriages are no longer sacred. They are experiments between two people who measure everything by their own emotional and sexual fulfillment. When marriages fail, there is no-fault divorce and a new attempt with another partner. Many people no longer bother to make promises of faithfulness, but rather cohabit.

This selfish culture has prepared the way for same-sex marriage. Churches and religious communities have failed miserably in addressing this situation.

We must ask ourselves, "Why did God create man and woman in the first place?" All of us, including those who experience same-sex attractions, can live fulfilled and happy lives. But we will achieve this by embracing the age-old wisdom of our faith traditions.

Johann Christoph Arnold

senior pastor, Bruderhof Communities

Rifton

Steel made in U.S. would ensure a durable bridge

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is buying steel from China for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at a much lower cost. Why isn't the steel made here in the U.S.A.? Just remember, you get what you pay for. Ask any steel worker how he likes working with Chinese steel. Ask any electrician how he likes his cheap parts made in China.

Wouldn't it be better to pay more and have a much safer and more durable product made here in the U.S.A.? Bringing more jobs back to the U.S. will offset any increase in the cost. More people will work and more tax revenue will come. Most important of all, it will make our country's infrastructure safe.

Richard D. Welsh

Wappingers Falls

Lyme disease research only scratches surface

The efficacy of long-term antibiotic treatment for late-stage, chronic Lyme disease is decidedly not a closed issue. Lyme borreliosis complex is a multifactorial disease that is poorly understood, and studies have only scratched the surface of what is to be learned.

At age 12, my daughter only worsened under her initial treatment of 14 weeks of daily IV antibiotics for late-stage Lyme disease. For the following six years, she was homebound and told she had "post-Lyme syndrome" - a useless catch-all term meaning there was no treatment available. However, at age 18, she began a different long-term antibiotic treatment more similar to chemotherapy for cancer: She underwent seven months of pulsed, multi-drug antibiotic IV therapy and she regained her life.

The physicians who are getting results are using their combined clinical experience in treating this horrible scourge. They must be allowed to continue with their brave, forward-thinking work. Our health insurance company refused to pay for this treatment on the grounds that it was "experimental." It cost us $25,000, but it brought my child back into the world. I could have dragged my child to either of two world-famous U.S. medical clinics for evaluation, which would have cost the insurance company at least that much money, but these major medical clinics are known by Lyme disease sufferers to be absolutely ignorant about Lyme disease and its cohort of babesiosis, bartonella, mycoplasma fermentans, and other tick-borne diseases.

Brenda Shelonko

Arlington, Va.

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Letters to the editor: 7/12

Supreme Court rulings on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 are described as a victory for same-sex marriage.